


Happy birthday, baby dragon

by Shadow_Hole



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Attempt at Humor, Birthday Fluff, Birthday Presents, Dragons, Fluff, I Tried, M/M, Minor Gwen/Lancelot (Merlin), One Shot, Short, so minor you can just ignore it, which means a very poor attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:14:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28345959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadow_Hole/pseuds/Shadow_Hole
Summary: In which Merlin and Arthur both love dragons, Merlin owns a small shop that breeds and sells the magical creatures and has the perfect gift planned for Arthur's birthday.Written for Merthur Week 2020 Day #6 “Can I uncover my eyes yet?” “No stop being impatient" + Humour
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 40





	Happy birthday, baby dragon

On the day of Arthur's birthday, Merlin woke up early in the morning because of his white dragon, Aithusa, who had landed on his face, clearly asking to be fed. Careful, as not to stir Arthur, he left their bed and went to the kitchen to feed the little demon that woke him, along with their other pet dragons that, unlike Aithusa, were patiently waiting in their room on the first floor. Before heading out, Merlin left Arthur a post-it note on the fridge, wishing him a good day, along with his breakfast, which he placed on the table. 

He quickly made his way through the streets of Camelot, already buzzing with people heading to work even though the Sun was still under the line of the horizon. It, fortunately, didn't take long for him to reach his shop, which was only a couple of blocks away from their apartment. Merlin set his bag and coat on the empty counter temporarily and rushed into the large back room to see how his new dragon eggs were doing. He opened the incubator and took out the large plastic container with the red spheres inside. Merlin closed the metal door quickly and set the eggs on the table right next to it. Taking a large intake of breath, Merlin opened the slightly opaque tub to take a look at what was inside. He gasped and then smiled with joy as he saw that several of the six eggs had gashes scattered through the previously pristine red surface. The babies were hatching today! Just as Merlin had hoped.

Less than an hour later, after Merlin had checked on the rest of the dragons in the shop and fed the ones that needed it, the shop was filled with customers, so that both he and Freya, his employee, were working extra hard to help everyone with their purchases.

A family of four had come in right away, probably before school started, and bought his last two Milk dragons from the clutch he had last month. An old lady was set on buying a common lizard, and it took both him and Freya to convince her that their shop was dedicated solely on magical creatures.

A guy with dark hair came in, looking around wearily, looking for a gift for his girlfriend who adored dragons, since their anniversary was just around the corner. Asking what the girl liked, he found out that she always wanted a King dragon, but never got around to buying one due to their temper. Luckily, Merlin had exactly what this man needed. With a whistle, he called the large dragon that was sleeping inside his opened cage. After a few seconds, a dark dragon came flying towards him, and Merlin extended his arm for Findabair to land on. She gracefully settled there, her weight making his arm tremble, but she quickly made her way on the counter. Merlin gave her a small treat and the white markings on her muzzle glowed in happiness.

"This is Findabair," Merlin told the man who introduced himself as Lancelot, "she is one year old, so she still has some growing up to do, but given the size of her parents, she shouldn't get much bigger. Maybe shoulder height when standing." 

He patted her head and the dark dragon nuzzled his palm. "She doesn't have the typical King attitude, as you can see, she could be an overgrown Regalis the way she acts. If your girlfriend's doubts only concern their character, she is a splendid animal to start with."

They set a price on the dragon fairly quickly, so that Lancelot could buy all she would need to live in her new house. He would come to the shop again the following week on their anniversary to take Findabair home.

"Thank you so much," said Lancelot, who had put aside his uncertainties about the large creature and was petting her softly, Merlin could tell that they would get along just fine and was happy to know that, he got attached to the sweet dragon. "Gwen will love her, I'm sure"

He could feel the tenderness his client put in his partner's name, and his heart swelled when he thought of Arthur, and how people could probably feel the same emotion in his words when Merlin talked about him.

In the afternoon, a boy wanted food for his Mais dragon, which was perched on his right shoulder, looking like a weird white and orange pokemon. Taking in the size of the animal, Merlin advised the kid to give it less treats and make it exercise more. He sold him a special leash and collar so that the dragon could easily fly around without the risk of getting lost.

It was when the costumers had all left the shop, along with Freya, who had waved at him on the way out, that Merlin heard the sound of the door opening, following by a familiar, mocking voice.

"Ah! At last, I have found the powerful Dragonlord. If I didn't know better, Merlin, I would have thought that you had been ignoring me."

Before turning around, not just at the ridiculous title no one used anymore, but also because Merlin had ben avoiding his prat of a boyfriend. It was mean, but he hoped the surprise would be worth it in the end.

"You know I wouldn't, just a busy day, is all," that was no lie, as he stood up from his chair he felt his spine crack and winced at the truth of those words, "I'm just checking everything was in order."

It was Arthur's turn to roll his eyes, well, more like raising them to the sky, "Well then, it's already well passed closing hour. Hurry up so we can go back home." He said.

"Why, got somewhere important to be?" Merlin teased, actually going around the main studio of the store, organizing a few things that had been put out of place during the day. He knew what Arthur had probably in mind. Getting changed into fancier clothes, go eat at a fancy restaurant and hopefully ending the evening in their bed, taking the previously mentioned clothes off. Not that the idea wasn't alluring, quite the opposite, but it would as though Arthur got a present for himself, and Merlin had planned this 'gift' for a long time.

"I was hoping I could take you out to dinner tonight," answered Arthur, the slight hesitation in his voice wasn't something that just anyone could make out. Merlin knew him well though, and couldn't help prod some more.

"Why? What's the occasion?" he asked with a casual tone. Merlin had been sure he could keep this up longer, but when he turned around to see Arthur right behind him, half-frozen, the half-confused expression on his face made heart melt. So he quickly threw himself in Arthur's arms and kissed him on the side of his neck in apology.

"Just messing with you, I'm sorry," Merlin whispered in his hear, "happy birthday, love". He could tell Arthur was relieved when after a stunned pause, he relaxed and let out a sigh. He then encircled Merlin in his free arm (the other was still holding his suitcase from work).

He regained his normal attitude right after, "Well, it wouldn't surprise me if you forgot, what with the memory you have. You are more hears than brains, I keep telling you."

Merlin smiled and took a step back, "Hi," he finally greeted at last, and Arthur's eyes softened.

"Hi" he greeted back.

Merlin took his free hand in his and looked him in the eye, "Will you put down your bag for a second? I want to show you something"

Arthur's eyebrow rose but complied nevertheless. Merlin guided him towards the backroom and instructed him to cover his eyes. After yet another eye roll, Arthur did as he was told yet again.

It took a while to set the container in place on the table, as he had made sure that the newly hatched babies wouldn't be disturbed and left alone for the day and placed them on the back of the top shelf of the incubator.

“Can I uncover my eyes yet?” came the petulant comment from behind

“No stop being impatient," answered Merlin, who was actually almost done and just wanted to keep Arthur on hedge.

He just put the lid aside and approached Arthur, "Don't open your eyes yet," Merlin warned, "Just come closer to the table with me."

When they were right in front of it, Merlin wrapped his left arm around Arthur's middle and whispered, "You can open them now"

When he did, Arthur was met with the sight of extremely small, gold dragons sleeping inside of a large plastic tub. The bottom of it had an inch of moss to make them more comfortable. A few of them were still inside the opened egg, which was a vibrant red.

"Merlin, what-"

"They hatched this morning," Explained Merlin, resting his chin on Arthur's shoulder, "Happy birthday, Arthur"

It was clear that Arthur wanted badly to touch them, but didn't want to wake the hatchlings.

"They are- Are they Regalis?" asked Arthur.

"They are."

"But, Merlin, I never saw a completely gold one. Maybe a few scattered scales, but never a full-body, patternless gold,"

"They didn't exist before, I created them,"

"A new gene?"

"I present to you the Pendragon morph"

Arthur gulped and took in the colors again. Studying the dragons closely, he noticed that when the light hit the scales a certain way, they reflected the same red of their shell, and recognized them as the same colors of his old family crest.

"You named them after me," he said quietly, taking Merlin's left hand in his. He could feel Arthur's thumb slowly playing with the ring on his fourth finger. 

"Yeah, I wanted to call them Prat morph, but Freya insisted," he joked, blowing on Arthur's hair to make some of the golden strands fly about.

"Oh, shut up, you," 

They stayed there looking at the sleeping babies for some time, not saying anything to disrupt the easy silence that had followed the playful jabs. One of the little ones had woken up, large red eyes blinking up at them in curiosity, before wobbling to the edge of the tub, resting the small head on the smooth corner. The length of her tail indicating that the creature was probably a female.

"Hello there, sweetie," Arthur cooed at her, with a voice Merlin barely ever heard coming from his fiance. Slowly, he moved his right hand to gently stroke her neck, which couldn't be larger than his pinky finger, "they are all so beautiful, Merlin. I- thank you. Thank you, love." Arthur looked away from the dragon, which had closed her eyes under his ministrations, to kiss Merlin on his cheek.

"A new morph... I- a lot of people would be willing to pay a large sum for them, given how popular Royals are... Will-" a look of uncertainty crossed his face, and Merlin just wanted to make it go away, "Are you going to give them a-"

"I'm not selling them, of course I wouldn't, they are staying with us, all six of them," Merlin quickly interrupted, sharply at first, but softening his tone quickly, as he could see relief in Arthur's features, "They are ours, I don't care how much money I'd gain from selling them." 

Arthur looked at the clock, and then down at the container again, "I know that they should stay here, where the temperature is more controlled and easily regulated, but-" He took a deep breath, "But I really don't want to leave them alone in the dark again."

Both of them knew that dragons didn't fear the dark, as it was in their nature to live in small, obscured places. Merlin also knew that a car ride could unnaturally wake them up from their sleep, when they needed their rest after hatching.

He knew they should stay at the shop, but then he looked at the girl that had climbed further up the side of the tub to slide onto Arthur's waiting hand, and suddenly it wasn't that important anymore.

He pulled Arthur in for another kiss, before pulling away slightly to whisper to his lips, "Yeah, I don't want that either... let's get them home" 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Hello there!  
> The prompt wanted humour, but the story wanted to be fluffy, and since I can't even write humour in the first place, I obeyed the fic's command.
> 
> I am not a native English speaker, but I am eager to improve. Any correction or advice is greatly appreciated.  
> Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this one shot!


End file.
